His Thanks to God and Praise of the Confessors

“I said, under the guidance of his hand, for I would never wish to forget the gratitude I owe to his grace. Believing, then, that this most excellent service had been entrusted to me as a special gift, I went on as far as the regions of the East. These, being under the weight of heavier calamities, seemed to call for still more effective remedies at my hands. At the same time I am fully persuaded that I owe my life, my every breath, in short my most inward and secret thoughts, entirely to the favor of the Supreme God. Now I know well that those who sincerely pursue the heavenly hope, and have fixed this hope in heaven itself as the special and governing principle of their lives, have no need to rely on human favor. Rather, they have enjoyed higher honors the more they have separated themselves from the lower and evil things of this earthly life. Even so, I consider it my duty to remove at once and most completely from all such people the hardships laid on them for a time, and the unjust penalties they have suffered, though they were free of any guilt or just liability. For it would be strange indeed if the courage and steadfastness of soul these men showed were fully seen under the rule of those whose first aim was to persecute them for their devotion to God, and yet the glory of their character were not brighter and more blessed under a prince who is God’s servant. [a]